BlameThe1st @Linkara19 I was dearly hoping you weren't going to tweet at me again, bro. We have ungodly high rape rates. Something is up.

Ah yes, the "rape culture" claim. If that were true, and American society permitted rape, then it would only follow that sexual assault rates would be through the roof. However, seeing as how such rates have been on the decline over the past 20 years, that hardly seems to be the case.

Now many have brought up on Twitter that the stats I cited were over three years old and only covered "reported" rape. However, I feel they still count. Three years is hardly a huge time gap, so they're still relevant.

As for "unreported" rape, it's hard to determine them since they are unreported. So reported rape is the only thing we have to go by.

WTF? The discussion is on rape. I bring up rape statistics. Lindsay brings up sexual harassment statistics. Not the same thing! That's like having a discussion on traffic accidents and bringing up car theft! Non Sequitur!

Zero is not an attainable goal, so setting it as one is not reasonable. The fact that sexual assault rates are not at zero does not prove that America is a rape culture. If that were the case, then every country on the frigging planet is!

What matters is that rape in this country is on the decline. DECLINE! And has been for over two decades! The same is true for violent crime as a whole!

America does not have a rape problem. America does not have a violence problem. On the contrary, America is becoming an increasingly safer country to live in.

So don't worry. Be happy!

To add to the overall fail, one person even tried to cite the recent Steubenville rape case as proof that America is a rape culture.

Anyone who has visited my Tumblr and Twitter accounts know how I feel about that. It was a sickening event that should have never happened.

With that said, it was only one incident in one town, and thus not indicative of the country as a whole. Using it as proof is anecdotal evidence, and thus not reliable.

I bluntly explained that in a reply, to which Linkara replied in the most face-palming leap of logic I have ever witnessed from him:

That's not to say someone has no right to improve their situation, but claiming your oppressed is a bit much, saying your being disadvantaged by a biased culture is slightly less extreme while still being accurate.

The problem in the US is that the proven/found guilty looks for excuses for things like rape, murder, pedophilia and other violent crimes. Their excuses get 'pity points' and their sentences reduced or worse found not guilty by an idiot jury. The solution should be simple - found guilty by a jury of one's peers, get one year in solitary with a Bible then when that year is up, its time to 'shuffle off this mortal coil' either way.

The problem with the death penalty is it requires someone to be given a license to kill. You really think politicians can be trusted with that? I don't know about you but I don't even trust them with my mail.

Oppression is real and it is learned; the mechanisms of society are not human nature. Our species is not sexually-dimorphic as you base your argument; look into the number of intersexed children and sexually ambiguous births of newborns there are in the USA alone. Most intersex births are hidden: the babies surgically altered and forced into one-side-or-the-other which was covered nicely in the short form documentary XXXY [link]. A separate dichotomy based on gender or sex is not something to "be expected" and is not even remotely scientifically accurate. If you want further evidence then look at different times when Olympic female athletes were DNA tested and came back as variant, because even the XX/XY chromosomes have variations. Some people have extra chromosomes or test as different from their physical appearance, there is a lot of documentation on XXY/Klinefelter Syndrome, XXYY, XXXY, etc. Saying the whole "males and females are inherently and naturally different" is preaching Essentialism which is sexism in its most basic form.

I would hesitate to quote rape statistics in any way shape or form, ever, being that the absolute majority of sexual assaults and sexual molestations go unreported. I kept being raped a secret for about 18 years. I know tons of people like me. Tons. I sardonically joke about starting a blog or online group and calling it Shellie's Awesome Rape Club. Part of the oppression is that the victim whom reports her attackers(s) get puts on display, faulted and stigmatized, criticized, called a liar, shamed and is further hurt by seeking justice. It's the old "the little slut was drunk / wearing a shot skirt and a tight sweater / she was asking for it" mentality that polarizes females into either virgins or whores and overall seeks to place responsibility for rape on the victim [failure to avoid danger] rather than place responsibility on the attacker(s) who commit rape. Rape is not some mythical creature that attacks the foolish or deserving. It is a common and persistent danger to all women and minor children.

I can only hope that the prevalence of digital media will escalate enforcement and put more rapists in prison, people that would have gotten off the hook in the past and now make trophy videos or take photographs of the assault are documenting their own crimes in this day and age. I can only hope that more victims can connect with one another and offer sympathy, emotional support, comfort and communication. I also hope that more people are educated about the prevalence of rape, the how sexual oppression hurts everyone and things we can do to make society more egalitarian. Even beyond the polarity of attackers and victims, I overwhelming agree with the commentary Henry Rollins offered on the Steubenville, Ohio Rape Verdict and the underlying social problems which I offer below.

At least when a woman gets raped, it gets the sympathy and attention it deserves.

When it happens to guys, and it does make no mistake, he gets the door slammed in his face. Nobody will talk about it. It's completely swept under the rug because the idea that women are just as capable of violence is just too uncomfortable for people. Even I was shocked to learn that when a man is raped, it's not even classified as rape in the same way as it would be for a woman. How about the fact that there's just as many cases of wives assaulting husbands and vice versa yet an abused husband has nowhere to turn. Nobody will talk about it.

Oh here we go, the old "advising people who to protect themselves = rape culture" nonsense. It's no different than if I left my bike out unlocked and it got stolen. Yes, the thief IS the wrong doer and nobody's denying that but you can't deny that I have some responsibility for being so careless by not locking it up properly. This is not degrading to women in some way, it's quite empowering to know that there's ways you can protect yourself rather than treat rape like some lightning bolt that could strike at any time without warning.

There is no rape culture here and that term is really quite insulting to people where that IS their reality. The average person in the civilized world does morally condemn rape. The only people who don't are absolute shitheads that I really wish we'd stop feeding attention to. You want rape culture? Go to Africa or the middle east where rape IS permitted, both morally and legally.

That's the two things I dislike about feminism1. Their refusal to step out of their comfort zone. Wherever feminism is most genuinely needed, it's strangely not there.2. They fail the integrity test badly. Whenever it's their moral imperative to defend the other side, their silence is deafening. Even worse is the number of feminists I've seen outright resorting to their own brand of bigotry and none of their fellow feminists calling them out on it. I'm an atheist and an anarchist but I DO defend theists and even statists when I believe they've been wronged. It doesn't hurt your cause to speak for the other side when the situation calls for it. That's called integrity and the feminist movement has failed it badly.

◙ I intentionally left out male or LGBTQ victims. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Let us dialogue now.

"At least when a woman gets raped, it gets the sympathy and attention it deserves."

◙ On what planet? A woman that comes forward to report her attackers get scrutinized, criticized and blamed as responsible or complicit. "Sympathy" is usually nothing more than condescension on the part of commentators as the media rolls over the victim for profit when a case becomes very public.

"When it happens to guys, and it does make no mistake, he gets the door slammed in his face. Nobody will talk about it. It's completely swept under the rug because the idea that women are just as capable of violence is just too uncomfortable for people. Even I was shocked to learn that when a man is raped, it's not even classified as rape in the same way as it would be for a woman."

◙ I have no idea where you live, but here in the big city, rape is rape, regardless of who attacked whom. I can't imagine where you allegedly "learned" differently from but it is not from a law book, attorney or police officer. Maybe you live in an area where local police need more training, there is a lack of enforcement in the law or local statutes need a light shone on them for reform. The only form of socially sanctioned rape I can think of in a legal system is prisons. Prison rape is common knowledge and a Tool song. It's an egregious human rights violation that it goes on unchecked, without prevention or enforcement of actions against perpetrators. But I digress. Having a lot of experience with a male rape victim, my ex-husband whom I was with for ten years, I can tell you a major barrier is that males are even *more* resistant to report their attackers. I can say from personal experience males are more likely to keep rape and molestation a secret because they don't want the negative backlash a female may or usually gets on top of having their sexual identity questioned.

◙ Also, hear of the SANDUSKY TRAIL? When rape happens to males, although most it occurs to younger males or minors, there is eventually justice. More importantly, there is outrage at the perpetrator! No one said, "That football player was asked for a serious raping with his tight pants and sassy attitude. That's what he got for drinking beer with the Coach." There is no outrage on behalf of female victims. The Sundusky trial outrage was so bad, people went to the campus and tore down a bronze statue of a man involved in the case. Outrage is what is missing on behalf of female victims where and "Oh well, play with fire, you get burned" attitude prevails.

"How about the fact that there's just as many cases of wives assaulting husbands and vice versa yet an abused husband has nowhere to turn. Nobody will talk about it."

◙ No, there is not. You may be substituting personal experience or imagination for reality here. This is not even a matter of statistics; it is a hard and fast fact that most perpetrators of violence against both men and women are men. Most violent perpetrators are men, most murders are men; it is an overwhelming male majority, usually around 80% or more. Spousal abuse can occur to men. Abuse is abuse, regardless of who is being hurt. Abuse traverses all genders, sexual orientations, ages, income levels, etc. I advise anyone and everyone to get out of an abusive relationship immediately and seek counseling and legal action immediately.

"Oh here we go, the old "advising people who to protect themselves = rape culture" nonsense. It's no different than if I left my bike out unlocked and it got stolen. Yes, the thief IS the wrong doer and nobody's denying that but you can't deny that I have some responsibility for being so careless by not locking it up properly. This is not degrading to women in some way, it's quite empowering to know that there's ways you can protect yourself rather than treat rape like some lightning bolt that could strike at any time without warning."

◙ The most disturbing part of this comment is that your analogy equates women to property, specifically a bicycle. The issue of rape culture is a lot different, women are not legal property; and plenty of women take steps all their lives and maintain constant vigilance and still get hit like your "lightening bolt" analogy. My aunt and my very smart friend both got roofied and raped. Aunt is a bartender, friend long time resident of Chicago and NYC -neither foolish with their drinks or lacking in awareness of potential danger- so think over GHB / Rohypnol / Roofies because they're in the mix. And so is gang rape. And guns and knives. So us girlies can tak all the karate classes we want and feel empowered, rapists are still criminals with ways to level the playing field. It's not like the whole rape is some one-on-one manual event. Oh, also, one of the easiest places to get raped: the military. Women in uniform are getting raped in increasing numbers. My acquaintance Missy dated a friend for a long time, I kept touch with her when she left; her roommate was raped on an air force base. That gives me one degree of separation from a woman in uniform being raped. The problem is rampant, refer to the movie "The Silent War".

"There is no rape culture here and that term is really quite insulting to people where that IS their reality."

◙ You have ABSOLUTELY no right to speak for me or other people who I know or am related to that have experienced rape. You have absolutely no authority to speak to anyone's feeling of insult. The reality is, the insult is that there is a rape culture here and it is pervasive. I personally think rape culture is driven by a gender binary that unilaterally degrades females: women, girls and even infants are coded as feminine and "lesser".

"The average person in the civilized world does morally condemn rape."

◙ ON WHAT PLANET?? Your love of unfounded, broad generalizations is amazing. At least I cite personal experience and specific instances. You have no credibility."

"The only people who don't are absolute shitheads that I really wish we'd stop feeding attention to. You want rape culture? Go to Africa or the middle east where rape IS permitted, both morally and legally."

◙ Yes, places like Darfur have rape used as an active tool of warfare against ethnic groups specifically and women in general. I've been beaten, beaten unconscious, had teeth punched out, been gang raped, sexually abused, endured forced / coerced sexual intercourse, been hungry, homeless, groped and verbally harassed at work, burned, spit on, insulted, manipulated or coerced into lower levels of education and employment so many times, the USA is just Darfur with flatscreen TVs for me. You are not selling any "USA#1!" ideological bullshit to me on the basis of "Well, we're not like some other Third World hellholes." Yes, we are exactly like some other Third World hellholes and why that is needs to be addressed. Just because other places are worse or more dangerous does not make where we live some kind of fucking paradise.

"That's the two things I dislike about feminism1. Their refusal to step out of their comfort zone. Wherever feminism is most genuinely needed, it's strangely not there.2. They fail the integrity test badly. Whenever it's their moral imperative to defend the other side, their silence is deafening. Even worse is the number of feminists I've seen outright resorting to their own brand of bigotry and none of their fellow feminists calling them out on it. I'm an atheist and an anarchist but I DO defend theists and even statists when I believe they've been wronged. It doesn't hurt your cause to speak for the other side when the situation calls for it. That's called integrity and the feminist movement has failed it badly."

◙ Your ignorance and lack of education is simply appalling. The gender binary, borderwork and hetero-normativity hurts everyone. The current backlash against gay rights is just an attempt to keep it all in place. There is a spectrum in Feminism; I classify myself as a sex-positive Third Wave Feminist. As such, I am going to refer you to three very old sources that rebuke your inaccurate claims. Susan Faludi wrote "Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man" in 2000 and openly called for all Feminists to reach out and help unravel the damage that sexism inflicts on men. In the 800+ pages she goes over decades worth of multi-generational social, cultural and chronological history regarding male identity and where certain social contracts were changed or broken and the impact it has now. It's an excellent book. I often recommend it, and it met with acclaim. Documentary film by PBS "The Merchants of Cool" can be watched online for free and shows how a gender binary that specifically wants males dumbed down is a $150 Billion enterprise. [link] Then refer to "Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity" video and other ongoing works by Jackson Katz who has been working with issues of sexism and identity for decades. [link] For the record, many Feminists are male just as many Allies are straight. Come back and have talkie time when you have more knowledge in your thinkmeat.

Bold faced lying about female rape not being taken seriously by society. Please! We get fingers wagged at us if we so much as look at a woman funny.

Couldn't have missed the point of my analogy if you were aiming up your nose. Stop looking for rape support where it doesn't exist. You're turning the issue into a witch hunt and thus doing it a disservice.

And the usual "you iz ignorant for not bowing to me" nonsense...

Just watch this and learn something please: [link]As I said, much as I hate the term "first world problems", feminism is the very definition of it.

You can't understand rape culture because you are an active participant in it.

Because you are so fuckheaded stupid and antagonistic, I'm going to have to spell out that rape culture is treating rape like a natural hazard females have to avoid rather than being actively created by a society that devalues females and places blame on victims. A mother said it best when she wrote "If you raise your sons to be as repulsed by rape as they should be, I should never have to think about what my daugther is wearing when she leaves the house."

Please don't breed. Your attitudes suck and I would hate if you had a daughter. It would be terrible if she came to you one day and sad, "Dad, SI need help! I went to party and there was a lot of beer. I was drinking, everyone was drinking, and two guys raped me." Based on your statements, you would say, "I'm sorry, honey. This is just like the time you failed to lock up your bicycle and someone stole it."

The number of bigoted, stereotyped and sexist statements you made in your commentary is really sad. I actually started counted them but still hoped you could be reasoned with. Like racism, these are the kind of attitudes people can absorb from the larger culture and not be aware of the problem. Feminism is nothing more that the radical concept that I want equality. You're just pissed off, dragging your personal shit into a larger cultural controversy and that's it. I deeply hope any woman that is a potential sexual partner for you gets wind of your overwhelmingly derogatory attitude toward females and gets away from you promptly! There is no "witchhunt"; women with any sense and maturity just realize you are a total jag off. I hope any number of them have told you so to your face.

I'm done with you now. All of the points I made in your flawed, broad generalizations stand with the plethora of sexism comments. Thanks for showing your true colors.

Hey! Don't call my friend a rapist, you vapid moron. Diluting the meaning of the word lends credence to your idiotic ideas that every single person that does anything you dislike is a rapist, and that is HIGHLY offensive to anyone who was ACTUALLY raped. You claim to be a victim, but your own words attest to the severe likelyhood that your "experience" was one where you willingly gave it up to someone and then later decided you didn't like it and then defined that as a rape, or something even more fucking stupid and non-rape.

For the last couple of hours, I have been thinking of the verdict that was reached in what is now known as the Steubenville rape case.

Since all involved are minors, I won’t use anyone’s name. Two juvenile males were found delinquent of the charges and will be, as far as I understand, incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility until they are twenty-one years of age.

There is, I guess, cell phone generated video content of parts of the crime. It went “viral” on the internet and brought attention to the events.

I got through a few minutes of it but was too disgusted to watch the rest.

The case, the verdict and the surrounding circumstances open up a huge conversation.

These are a few of the things that I have been thinking about.

After reading several posts online, I was not surprised at the vast range of sentiments expressed. Many of the postings were of outrage that the two found delinquent were not tried as adults so they would face much longer sentences. You might not know, but in some states, this sentence would be decades long. Many of the posts spoke of the damage done to the victim and the life she will have now. One person suggested caning the two young men. Many others were angered at the deification of high school football players and how they often receive special treatment. You can read this stuff all day if you want.

After reading posts for quite awhile, I thought first about the two young men. I wondered if the years in the facility will “help” them. What, exactly does one “learn” in one of these places? That is to say, after five years locked away, does the idea of assaulting a woman seem like the wrong thing to do, more than if you were incarcerated for one year? Would you be “more sorry” about what you did? Is that possible? Or, would you just be more sorry for yourself about where your actions landed you? At what point do you get “better”, how many years in one of these places does that take?

What made these young people think that that what they did was ok? What was in their upbringing, the information and morals instilled in them that allowed them to do what they did, minute after minute, laughing, joking, documenting it and then calling it a night and going home? Out of all the people who were witness to what happened, why wasn’t there someone putting a stop to it?

What I am attempting to get at, and I apologize if I am not being clear enough is that this is a failure on many levels. Parents, teachers, coaches, peers all come into play here. I am not trying to diffuse blame or lessen the awfulness of what happened but I want to address the complexity of the cause in an effort to assess the effect so it can be prevented.

Some might say that the two going to the youth facility are as much victims as the young women who was assaulted. I do not agree. The two are offenders. What they did was obviously wrong. That being said, we cannot end the discussion at that point and expect things to change.

I have yet to say anything about the damage done to the young woman involved. It is ironic and sad that the person who is going to do a life sentence is her.

As a testament to the horrific power of sexual assault, I encourage you to see, yet cannot recommend the documentary The Invisible War about sexual assault in the military. [link]. The reason I say that I cannot recommend it is that it is so well done, so clear and devastating that it will put you through quite a wringer. I do hope you see it but damn, it’s hard. In the interviews with women who have been assaulted by fellow members, the damage that has been done to these good people is monumental.

Many people are angry that more time was not given to the offenders. This seems to be the prevailing sentiment. I understand the anger but don’t know if adding a decade onto their sentences would be of any benefit. To me, the problem that needs to be addressed is where in the information chain were the two offenders made to understand that what they did was not wrong on every possible level? You can execute them both tomorrow but still, there is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

It’s a situation where you would like to be able to point a finger and say, that’s the reason and be done. You have to be careful when you do this because it’s easy to miss.

I think to a great degree, we humans still divide ourselves into two species, even though we are monotypic. There are males and females. We see them as different and not equal. Things get better when women get more equality. That is a bit obvious but I think it leads to better results up the road. If it’s a man’s world as they say, then men, your world is a poorly run carnage fest.

It is obvious that the two offenders saw the victim as some one that could be treated as a thing. This is not about sex, it is about power and control. I guess that is what I am getting at. Sex was probably not the hardest thing for the two to get, so that wasn’t the objective. When you hear the jokes being made during the crime, it is the purest contempt.

So, how do you fix that? I’m just shooting rubber bands at the night sky but here are a few ideas: Put women’s studies in high school the curriculum from war heroes to politicians, writers, speakers, activists, revolutionaries and let young people understand that women have been kicking ass in high threat conditions for ages and they are worthy of respect.

Total sex ed in school. Learn how it all works. Learn what the definition of statutory rape is and that it is rape, that date rape is rape, that rape is rape.

In the spirit of equal time, sites like Huffington Post should have sections for male anatomy hanging out instead of just the idiotic celebrity “side boob” and “nip slip” camera ops. I have no idea what that would be like to have a camera in my face at every turn, looking for “the” shot. I know what some of you are saying. “Then why do they wear clothes like that unless they want those photos taken?” I don’t know what to tell ya. Perhaps just don’t take the fuckin picture? Evolve? I don’t know.

Education, truth, respect, equality—these are the things that can get you from a to b very efficiently.

It must be an awful time for the parents of all three of these people and their relatives and I hope they all get to a better place soon.

"oppression" when they are systematically denied the same rights that everyone else in society has

The thing is that where there are also fundamental flaws in execution of laws due to preconceived ideas pertaining to the lack of a serious nature of some of these crimes, there is obviously a condition where one half the population can easily be denied rights based on the lack of serious respect, or, even a belief in the fact that a crime has been committed.

There are too many people, though most are probably male, that believe that when a woman says no, she means yes, and, if a date can force her into sexual intercourse without her screaming and fighting madly against the act, then the act was consensual. Many rapes are treated as though they were consensual when they were not, and, males are by quite a few authority figures given the excuse that boys will be boys, and, that women just don't know what is good for them. The thoughts are known to be politically incorrect, and, are generally only made under conditions where there is no proof that they were made, plausible deniability I believe is the term.

While this description may not fulfill the obvious and first thought of meaning of the words rape culture, it is most certainly a culture wherein rape is trivialized, and, often taken as a game. Certainly when cases of rape can be determined by the amount of money a man has, or the size of his lawyer's hourly compensation, the term rape culture is adequate as a description for the guys that get away with it, replete with sanctions against the victims that the rich winners cannot be impugned by accusations informally pursued by the victims either.

Don't forget Uganda (where raping women is socially mandated for men, often to cure HIV or, ahem, "cure" lesbianism) or Afghanistan (where a woman is at fault for being raped for "leading men on with immoral thoughts"...and the cure is to burn her alive!)

Muslim peace activists who want to be taken seriously need to get more vocal about this stuff happening in their countries even if it means putting their own lives at risk. Otherwise they're just prevaricating.

Transplant Stubenville to Sweden let alone Congo, India etc..... would it even get a tweet battle? There is NO doubt that dispicable acts against women, ethnicities etc... are dropping in your country and here too. I endorse those that keep the conversation going as it plays a vital role, but that role will be much more robust if the conversation gets MORE intelligent not LESS. Inserting false dichotomies (rape vs a "hey baby") one being a sign of oppression the other seems more like marginalisation or just biology and a few too many.....